30 Oct Spirits of the Dead ~ October 31st-November 6th, 2016

This week begins with a waxing Moon in Scorpio, creating some ideal conditions for the celebration of Halloween.

However you celebrate this holiday, the internal experience is intended to commemorate the end of the harvest season and the impending death of the year. Thus, this is a time to honor that which binds all life together: the shared fate of death.

But rather than seeing death as total obliteration, during this season we are reminded to enliven our natural delight in mystery, seeing the darkness that obscures truth as divine inspiration. At Halloween, we are called to commune with the spirits of the dead, feeling the wisdom of the ages pour forth from the ghosts of bygone eras and through the dint of our ancestral histories.

Death and the Maiden by Pierre Eugène Emile Hébert

All visions of the afterlife, both beautiful and horrifying, titillate our desire to explore the realms of mystery. These visions are imaginary landscapes which awaken the senses to new heights of rapture! Therefore, this week can be spent ravishing in the mystery of death and reaching for a vision of what is beyond the beyond.

There is no better author to guide us through a period of somber introspection about death than Edgar Allan Poe. As the premier author of the style of Dark Romanticism, Poe was a genius at breathing life into imaginary landscapes that were born of the most obscured aspects of the human psyche.

In his poem, Spirits of the Dead, he reveals that when lost in ‘dark thoughts’ the permeable line between the living and the dead can be perceived. In the shadow realms of mystery, evidence of eternity is found.

Spirits of the Dead

Thy soul shall find itself alone
‘Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness — for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne’er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

Monday/Tuesday: Visions Ne’er to Vanish

Monday is Halloween and the night will burn with an emotional intensity that can inspire you to deepen your integrity and grow in wisdom. The opportunities for revelry and festivity will be greatly enhanced by the Sun in Scorpio’s trine to Neptune in Pisces.

Appropriately enough for Halloween, this trine between the Sun and Neptune will allow you to blur your sense of solid identity, a great boon to anyone who will be dressing up in costume. You will be easily possessed by your own imagination. Thus, the character that you choose to embody may become a totally immersive performance of an underutilized aspect of your psyche. 

Cimitero di Staglieno

Total submission to the revelry of shadowy fantasy is a game that is not without danger. But it is also the danger that makes the game so fun. With great respect to yourself, enjoy the art of playing with your own shadow, allowing yourself to be unburdened from the mundanity of your normal life.

Even if you do not find yourself dressing up in costume, this Sun/Neptune trine will open your consciousness to that permeable line between the living and the dead.

Rome, Verano Cemetery, Angel of the Night by Giulio Monteverde

You may feel your ancestors beside you, connecting you to the past in subtle but profound ways. Or, you may feel echoes from the past calling to you from the halls of history, beckoning you to submerge yourself in the imagination of times never known to you. Whatever your experience of these aspects may be, allow these thin veils between realities to serve as a great feast for the spirits of the living and the dead.

Apparition by Constant Puyo (1910)

Wednesday/Thursday: Shadowy, Shadowy, Yet Unbroken

On Wednesday and Thursday, the waxing Moon will be passing through Sagittarius, conjuncting both Venus and Saturn. This may bring back any touch of sober-mindedness that may have been lost at the beginning of the week while also bringing you the gift of a little extra grace. With both discipline and grace at your side, anything of importance can be accomplished.

Also during the middle of the week, Mercury in Scorpio will be sextiled Pluto in Capricorn. This represents a really amazing moment to take up reading the many brilliant writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Not only will his voice come alive, but the many layers of mystery that he wove into his poems and stories will strive to reveal themselves to you.

Aside from indulging in Poe, the intensifying effect of the mind’s ability to penetrate deeply into secrets and shadows will be enhanced by any serious reading or study.

When the intellect (Mercury) combines with the transformative power of Pluto you will have heightened gifts with language. Therefore your ability to reveal and conceal through carefully chosen words will be notable. You will have more powers of persuasion at your disposal and your ability to discover the underlying interconnectivity in any mystery will be magnified.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Mystery of Mysteries!

The weekend will be characterized by the waxing Moon’s passage through the sign of Capricorn. (Edgar Allan Poe’s natal Sun sign) As the light of the Moon grows in Capricorn, there will be a heightened sense of ambition which will elevate your sense of purpose.

As the Moon conjuncts Pluto you may feel a thrashing drive to express intense rage or unbridled delight. As the Moon conjuncts Mars you may be tempted to stoke the flames of your suppressed anger. The best expression of these aspects would result in you feeling like you have a healthy repertoire of passions from which you draw inspiration from.

On Saturday, Venus in Sagittarius will trine Uranus in Aries, making this weekend a wonderful time to socialize with interesting people. By interesting, I mean people who stimulate you to think more, feel more, do more.

The most important gift of Venus trined Uranus is that you may feel drawn to push yourself into a situation that will radically improve your relationship to love, money, and/or creativity.

The amount of emotional exploration done during the season of Scorpio will have made your most fervent desires much better known to you. Thus, with your desires so close to the surface of your consciousness, this Venus/Uranus aspect might offer just the magic you need to catalyze some really delightful changes in your life.

Roma, Cimitero del Verano, Angelo della Notte, by Giulio Monteverde

The element of risk that Uranus brings up may make you feel uneasy, but with Venus in a supportive aspect like this, taking risks will improve your ability to love and respect yourself.

After all, who really wants to remember their life as a monotony of safety, where nothing was ever lost or gambled upon? During Scorpio season, we are reminded again and again to honor the time that we do have. The reality of death makes it clear that there is not enough time in our lives to waste away in motionless fear. 

Let this season of death be a pause for reflection upon the sweetness of life.